Upcoming at the Lava Gallery is another solo show from London based artist Stik. Opening on the 26th May the exhibition will feature fresh new Stik paintings.

Stik’s intimate new works push the limits of both the artist’s style and the canvas itself with a series of extreme close-up portraits. Best known for his minimal, yet expressive graffiti characters seen across Central and East London, he often takes days to position the six lines and two dots that make up each of the vulnerable and diffident large scale figures he paints. In this latest show, despite reducing his work to the level of near abstraction, the intensity of the emotion remains. Such is the artist’s skill that as he zooms into the face of each character he paradoxically amplifies rather than obscures their subtleties, bringing the viewer into ever more personal connections with them.

The opening reception on 26th May 2011 is sponsored by Tiger Beer, 6 - 9.30pm and the show will run at the gallery space until the 4th June.